Berliner Dom - a cathedral on Museum Island
While spending a week vacation with Raphael's parents in Wernigerode, we decided to take a day trip to Berlin. Neither one of us had never really visited the city before. We planned our sightseeing route in the car on the way there using a tour book I had purchased 3 years ago. At one point we thought we would both be living, working and studying in Berlin instead of Munich.
Brandenburger Tor
The bomb-damaged Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. The church is now an empty shell.
Potsdamer Platz - once again a busy hub of city life. The war almost completely destroyed this area. In 1992 reconstruction began to restore the square's life and it has now become an ultra modern business and financial district.
The Reichstag - the German Parliament building.
Up on the roof of the German Parliament building enjoying the 365 degree view. Never would have been able to do something like this in the states on top of the capital building.
Raphael and I enjoyed a rickshaw ride through the city. Our cyclist gave us a mini tour as he pushed his way along the busy streets. He also knew no fear - demanding his right-of-way through busy intersections or confronting jeering pedestrians on a sidewalk detour. Raphael and I had to giggle in the back.
Checkpoint Charlie-
the border crossing between the American and Soviet sectors during the Cold War.
One of the last remaining sections of the Berlin wall. It was once protected to the east by land mines and was known as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Wall." It was 95 miles long. This is the sight where the SS headquarters stood and the group of buildings where the decisions about the Germanization of the occupied territories were made, as well as plans on the genocide of European Jews.
After Wold War II, the buildings were pulled down. All that remains are the cellars that were once torture cells. An exhibitions is mounted there documenting Nazi crimes.
This line of stones cuts through streets and sidewalks outlining the once East Berlin. Once the Berlin Wall stood here 13 feet high with a "death zone" patrolled by guards with dogs. We are so thankful that this dividing line is no longer a reality. Our life together would not have been possible under these circumstances.
"Uncle Raphael" keeping his nephews in-line.
"Cafe trinken" or literal translation "coffee drinking". Tea time with 3 birthday kuchen (cakes). From left to right: grandfather of Maria, Martin (Raphael's dad), Jutta (Raphael's mom) Lousia (our niece), Maria (sister-in-law), Carl (our nephew) Sebastian (Raphael's brother), Friedrich (our nephew), Raphael.
Berliner Dom - a cathedral on Museum Island
The bomb-damaged Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. The church is now an empty shell.
Potsdamer Platz - once again a busy hub of city life. The war almost completely destroyed this area. In 1992 reconstruction began to restore the square's life and it has now become an ultra modern business and financial district.
The Reichstag - the German Parliament building.
After Wold War II, the buildings were pulled down. All that remains are the cellars that were once torture cells. An exhibitions is mounted there documenting Nazi crimes.
March 2,2007 (6 months after the wedding)